Chapter 4

With trembling, frozen fingers, I walked into a 24-hour convenience store and paid to use their guest computer.

My hands shook so violently I kept mistyping the encrypted URL.

Enter. The screen refreshed.

The private cloud storage opened. Inside were thousands of photos of Lily and me, along with digital logs of my entire life as Georgina.

No Olivia. Only me.

I covered my mouth, tears dripping onto the keyboard.

I wasn't crazy. I was Georgina Williams.

I quickly clicked on the hidden security footage folder and pulled up the live playback from this afternoon.

The camera angle was low, gliding across the living room floor, but the audio was crystal clear.

Anthony was lounging on our Italian leather sofa. Olivia was curled up in his lap.

"The look on her face when she walked in was priceless," Olivia giggled, tracing circles on Anthony's chest. "The neurotoxin we slipped into her coffee really did its job, didn't it?"

Anthony smirked, taking a sip of red wine.

"Keeping her doped up and exhausted at her mom's bedside for a month was the easy part. It gave us all the time we needed to swap her documents and reprogram the smart home."

Olivia laughed, a cruel, mocking sound.

"Her mother’s doctors were so easy to buy. A little cash, some deepfake videos, and they actually believed I was Georgina visiting her."

"Though, that Dr. Evans guy cost us a pretty penny to sign off on the fake medical records."

Anthony pinched her chin, his eyes dark with greed.

"Who cares about a few thousand dollars when we’re about to take 100% control of Aether Technologies?"

"Once she goes fully insane and we lock her up in an asylum, all her shares legally transfer to me. We'll be billionaires."

My jaw clenched.

So my mother’s sudden illness was their doing.

The hospital staff and my employees had been manipulated through bribes and deepfakes.

They didn't just want my money. They wanted to drive me to actual madness so they could lock me away forever.

I won't let you, I thought, a cold fury replacing my despair.

This video was concrete evidence.

If I could get the physical SD card from the smart vacuum, I could go straight to the federal authorities.

I logged out of the cloud and wiped the computer's browsing history.

I checked the clock on the wall. 2:00 AM.

At this hour, they would be sound asleep.

I took a cab back to the estate. Avoiding the main security gate, I scaled the fence from the woods behind the property.

I crept into the garden and reached under a terracotta pot for the spare house key. I had hidden it there years ago, a habit Anthony always called "tacky."

Click. The side door swung open.

The mansion was pitch black and silent. The only sound was the rushing of my own blood in my ears.

Barefoot, I slipped onto the hardwood floor. Guided by muscle memory, I crawled under the living room sofa.

My fingers brushed against the cold plastic shell of the smart vacuum.

Holding my breath, I popped open the bottom latch and pulled out the micro SD card.

Got it!

With this, Anthony and Olivia were going to prison.

I clenched the tiny card in my fist and turned to leave.

Snap—

The massive crystal chandelier above flooded the living room with blinding light. I winced, shielding my eyes.

"Looking for this, Georgina?"

My body froze. I slowly opened my eyes.

Anthony was standing at the top of the grand staircase in his silk pajamas, swirling a glass of Merlot. He was looking down at me with a sickening smirk.

Behind him stood Olivia, holding an iPad, a smug smile plastered on her face.

"You... you were awake?" I stammered, stepping back, hiding my hand behind my back.

Anthony walked down the stairs, step by slow step, his eyes locked onto my arm.

"Did you really think your little DIY camera hack went unnoticed?"

He opened his left hand.

Lying in his palm was an identical micro SD card.

My mind went completely blank.

"Did you honestly think you could outsmart me in my own house?" Anthony chuckled. With a flick of his fingers, he snapped the card in half and threw the pieces onto the floor.

He leaned in close, his breath smelling of expensive wine.

"Do you want to know why everyone played along so perfectly this past month, Georgina?"

He snapped his fingers.

Olivia turned the iPad around, facing the screen toward me.

"Did you really think this was just about a simple betrayal?" Anthony whispered. "Welcome to your very own, custom-made, real-life Truman Show."